Archaeological Landscapes

Taken on my iPhone.

The Isle of Lewis has some wonderful archaeological sites. In particular there are a number of fine prehistoric stone circles.

By midmorning we had visited four stone circles. The weather was, shall we say interesting. Dark storm clouds kept whipping, by but glimpses of blue kept appearing in the distance, illuminating patches of hillside.

I set up the camera and waited for the light to appear. Oh so very briefly a shaft of sunlight appeared, but by the time I had metered the scene, and set the mirror lock-up, just before I tripped the cable release the sun disappeared.

We waited a while but then a few drops of rain started to fall. So with that we packed up and walked back to the car over the peat bog.

By the time we had reached the car the rain had blown over and the stone circle was again illuminated in a shaft of bright sunlight. A lesson in patience I think.

The next two circles while warranting a visit did not get blessed with the light.

The last circle was the most impressive, and the visitors centre made a most impressive Latte. Now the dark clouds had blown over and we were blessed with golden sunlight which lasted the rest of the day. Unfortunately brilliant sunshine while chocolate box pretty does not evoke the drama that dark clouds and shafts of brilliant sunshine can evoke.

Maybe better luck next time. Landscape photography is certainly not an easy art!